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reACTIONary

reACTIONary's Journal
reACTIONary's Journal
December 30, 2022

A tiny paper broke the George Santos scandal, but no one paid attention

https://wapo.st/3CcFuVJ

Months before the New York Times published a December article suggesting Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) had fabricated much of his résumé and biography, a tiny publication on Long Island was ringing alarm bells about its local candidate.

The North Shore Leader wrote in September, when few others were covering Santos, about his “inexplicable rise” in reported net worth — from essentially nothing in 2020 to as much as $11 million two years later.

The story noted other oddities about the self-described gay Trump supporter with Jewish heritage, who would go on to flip New York’s 3rd Congressional District from blue to red, and is now under investigation by authorities for misrepresenting his background to voters.

“Interestingly, Santos shows no U.S. real property in his financial disclosure, although he has repeatedly claimed to own ‘a mansion in Oyster Bay Cove’ on Tiffany Road; and ‘a mansion in the Hamptons’ on Dune Road,” managing editor Maureen Daly wrote in the Leader. “For a man of such alleged wealth, campaign records show that Santos and his husband live in a rented apartment, in an attached rowhouse in Queens.”

https://wapo.st/3CcFuVJ
December 28, 2022

Defenestration Update...

Pavel Antov, a Russian lawmaker and businessman who made his fortune in the sausage industry, died after falling from the third floor of his hotel room while on vacation in India — the latest Russian businessman to die under mysterious circumstances this year.

https://wapo.st/3YWBmTQ

December 27, 2022

Moorish Americans take over a rural gun range, sparking a strange showdown

.... after county officials took action, deeming the site an unlawful firing range and filing an injunction to stop it from operating in September, that events took several unexpected turns. That was when a group calling itself Moorish Americans — an offshoot of the extremist “sovereign citizen” movement whose members believe they are immune from dealings with U.S. legal and financial systems — essentially took over the range, declaring it “protected under the consular jurisdiction of Morocco.”

There followed arrests, flurries of spurious legal documents and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, all to the accompaniment of what neighbors describe as an ongoing din of gunfire on weekends. Things escalated last week when sheriff’s deputies raided the property, seizing what Bell said were about a dozen firearms.

The saga in Welcome, an agglomeration of tumbledown farmhouses and newly built homes roped together by winding country roads, highlights several enduring American loves: Guns, conspiracy theories, property rights and fruitless litigation.

https://wapo.st/3vjUbTm

November 19, 2022

Former Anti-Abortion Leader Alleges Another Supreme Court Breach

Source: New York Times, No Paywall

Both court decisions were triumphs for conservatives and the religious right. Both majority opinions were written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. But the leak of the draft opinion overturning the constitutional right to abortion was disclosed in the news media by Politico, setting off a national uproar. With Hobby Lobby, according to Mr. Schenck, the outcome was shared with only a handful of advocates.
........
Mr. Schenck recruited wealthy donors like Mrs. Wright and her husband, Donald, encouraging them to invite some of the justices to meals, to their vacation homes or to private clubs. He advised allies to contribute money to the Supreme Court Historical Society and then mingle with justices at its functions. He ingratiated himself with court officials who could help give him access, records show.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/19/us/supreme-court-leak-abortion-roe-wade.html?unlocked_article_code=rPLXnkL-A_KhgGTpQt-kGSTyOTnwhaX9xT5EmtOEhuybSkCYR1txiOgiKtJWJfbByQgyeJNMZs_tFirkFLFQ38oc1Wk2Hl-P0BrpWZvJqioLH8k1gF2GiW_2Hoe8SGo5d4SpWaHumms0bc-OzIal

October 16, 2022

Co-founder of Trump's media company details Truth Social's bitter infighting

Source: Washington Post (No Paywall)

Will Wilkerson, one of Trump Media & Technology Group’s first employees, alleges the company violated securities laws and that Trump pressured executives to hand over their shares to his wife. He shared a cache of internal documents with The Post and federal investigators that he says support his claims.

Will Wilkerson, then an executive at former president Donald Trump’s start-up Trump Media & Technology Group, was at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., coffee shop with company co-founder Andy Litinsky last October when Trump called Litinsky with a question: Would he give up some of his shares to Trump’s wife, Melania?

Litinsky tried to brush it off, telling Trump “the gift would have meant a huge tax bill he couldn’t pay,” Wilkerson said in an interview. “Trump didn’t care. He said, ‘Do whatever you need to do.’ ”

Five months later, Litinsky ... was abruptly removed from the company’s board. Wilkerson said he believes it was payback for his refusal to turn over a small fortune to the former president’s wife.

Read more: https://wapo.st/3D0g4eQ

October 15, 2022

Republicans are not heeding this message: Winning is not all about the base.

Independent voters don’t want mini-Trumps, are bored by Biden. Researchers who study independents advise ‘elections are won in the middle,’ even though many Republicans are not heeding the message. Independents will make or break Biden and the Democrats in November. Winning is not all about the base.

“First, the base will turn out. It always does in both parties. Second, elections are won in the middle,”

https://wapo.st/3CBrEMf

Conservatives outnumbered liberals by nine percentage points in 2016 and by 14 percent in 2020, according to exit polling data. After narrowly winning independents in 2016, Trump lost them to Biden by 13 percentage points four years later, ending his chances of a second term.

“Only one other major party presidential candidate has lost independents by a larger margin than Trump — Walter Mondale in 1984,” Winston wrote.

https://rollcall.com/2022/09/14/independents-will-make-or-break-biden-and-the-democrats-in-november/



October 12, 2022

Trump worker told FBI about moving Mar-a-Lago boxes on ex-president's orders

Source: WaPo

Key witness and security-camera footage offer evidence of Trump’s actions after government subpoena, people familiar say

A Trump employee has told federal agents about moving boxes of documents at Mar-a-Lago at the specific direction of the former president, according to people familiar with the investigation, who say the witness account — combined with security-camera footage — offers key evidence of Donald Trump’s behavior as investigators sought the return of classified material.

The witness description and footage described to The Washington Post offer the most direct account to date of Trump’s actions and instructions leading up to the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of the Florida residence and private club, in which agents were looking for evidence of potential crimes including obstruction, destruction of government records or mishandling classified information.

The people familiar with the investigation said agents have gathered witness accounts indicating that, after Trump advisers received a subpoena in May for any classified documents that remained at Mar-a-Lago, Trump told people to move boxes to his residence at the property. That description of events was corroborated by the security-camera footage, which showed people moving the boxes, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

Read more: https://wapo.st/3g50tln

October 4, 2022

Russian Apologist Oligarch: Go Fuck Yourself

Ukrainian Ambassador Tells Elon Musk to ‘F– Off’ After CEO Offers Unsolicited Advice for Peace With Russia

https://www.thewrap.com/ukraine-ambassador-tells-elon-musk-f-off-twitter/

Sorry, Elon Musk. You don’t have the formula to end the Ukraine war.

https://wapo.st/3Efq6d9

October 4, 2022

Russian Apologist Oligarch: Go Fuck Yourself

Ukrainian Ambassador Tells Elon Musk to ‘F– Off’ After CEO Offers Unsolicited Advice for Peace With Russia

https://www.thewrap.com/ukraine-ambassador-tells-elon-musk-f-off-twitter/

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